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American Morning
Obama Expect Dems Will Back Tax Deal; Risk of a Double-Dip: Summers Warns If No Tax Deal; "Operation Payback": WikiLeaks Supporters Hacking Web Sites; Domestic Terror Suspect Arrested; Jim Morrison Pardoned After 40 Years; WikiLeaks "Hack-tivists" Strike; Empowering Our Kids
Aired December 09, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It's Thursday, December 9th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us. And here's what we're talking about this morning.
Double dip, the White House raising the stakes in the tax cut fight. The top presidential economic adviser issues a dire warning if Congress fails to pass the tax cut deal. So just how confident is the president that the vote count will trend his way? We're live with team coverage this morning.
CHETRY: It's cyber warfare. WikiLeaks supporters calling it "operation payback." And it seems no one who crossed the whistle- blowing Web site is being spared. Hackers reportedly taking out the Swedish government's Web site overnight. Sarah Palin's site shut down as well, along with Visa and MasterCards. We're getting a live report from London.
CHETRY: And kids combating bullies at school not with physical contact, but with eye contact and confidence. Tools even the most vulnerable children can use to take a stand and stop the abuse. See how as we begin our series "Empowering Our Kids."
CHETRY: First, though, the clock is ticking on the lame duck Congress, as it's called. The White House now engaged in a full court press to try to seal on tax cuts.
ROBERTS: Democrats are still furious over the compromise, so the administration is turning up the beat with top White House economist Larry Summers, telling Congress, quote, "If they don't pass this bill in the next couple of weeks, it will materially increase the risk that the economy would stall out and we would have a double dip."
Let's break it all down with our Christine Romans. She's in New York this morning. And Suzanne Malveaux live at the White House. And first, let's go to Suzanne. Any word whether or not the president will make a personal visit down Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill to lobby his party members himself? SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's very possible, John and Kiran, because it's one of the things that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he is certainly open to when we saw that the last time we had talked about a health care reform when he really had to do some cajoling, some convincing, some arm twisting. Perhaps it's just a chance really for a lot of those members to express, to air their displeasure, their discomfort with everything that is taking place. They're quite angry and frustrated about this, so that we could actually see that happening.
We know that the president was on the phone. He was making calls yesterday to lawmakers. Last night, he was on a conference call with supporters, the organization, Organizing for America, obviously part of the DNC. He said he was absolutely convinced that this was the right deal. It was the best deal that he could possibly get, the tax cut deal. Trying once again to look at the supporters, the Democrats, and say, look, you know, we have done the best job that we can. The president at the same time also he is trying to downplay those differences hoping that by projecting a positive, optimistic message here, that this is going to happen in the next couple of days. I want you to take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's inaccurate to characterize Democrats writ large as feeling, quote/unquote, "betrayed." I think Democrats are looking at this bill and you've already had a whole bunch of them who've said this makes sense. This is the right thing to do. I expect everybody to examine it carefully. When they do, I think they're going to feel confident that, in fact, this is the right course while understanding that for the next two years we're going to have a big debate about taxes and we're going to have a big debate about the budget.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And another thing that's been interesting, that's been happening, John and Kiran, is on my BlackBerry has been blowing up in the last 24 hours or so because what they're doing is they're reaching out to Democratic governors, those major cities, Los Angeles, Michigan and having these e-mails being sent to us saying, look, you know, these are the folks that are supporting very prominent Democrats that are supporting this tax cut deal. Lawmakers you've got some political cover here. Jump on board. This is something that you can get on board with because you've got prominent Democrats who are actually saying, look, we're holding our nose at this thing but we know it's the best deal that we can get -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Who would have ever thought the president would be this adamant about maintaining tax rates for people making more than $250,000 a year? Wow.
MALVEAUX: Yes. He is definitely -- he's changed his tune and now he's just got to convince his party to go along with it. It is a really, really tough fight here. But they think they're going to get this. They just have to allow the Democrats to air all the anger and frustration, confusion over this and ultimately look at them face-to- face and say, look, we've got to get this done.
ROBERTS: Just get it done. Just get it done. Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning. Suzanne, thanks.
CHETRY: So those are the political stakes, what about the economic ones? Our Christine Romans joins us now. What are some of the experts saying? Because as we heard yesterday, this warning of going back into a double-dip recession if this doesn't pass.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And that's such a political, you know -- that's such a political bomb to talk about the double-dip recession because everyone is afraid of that, although we get a lot of feedback from people who say it already feels like a double-dip recession as if you don't have your job.
What is a double-dip recession? That's when the economy is growing, a very tepid recovery and then falls back into recession again. It's very hard to come back out of it when that happens. And so clearly, this is Larry Summers, who runs the Council of Economic Advisers trying to convince Democrats that this is the right thing to do. Other economists are saying -- economists are saying the payroll tax holiday and the unemployment benefits in this are incredibly stimulative. You've got Mark Zandi over at Moodyseconomy.com saying that by 2012, you could see the unemployment rate dip back down to about 8.7 percent if all of these things are going through. You've got more -- in addition to economic growth, most economists say you've got a half percentage point to a percentage point of economic growth that could be added to the economy by all of these measures. The question is, they aren't paid for further on out. Goldman Sachs also saying the deal could add to economic growth and help lower unemployment rates next year, not next year but the year after next if all of this gets moving through the economy.
Unemployment benefits, ironically, the thing that's the shortest in here, 13 months of an extension of unemployment benefits, that's probably the most stimulative thing in here because that's money that many economists agree goes immediately into the economy. In fact, every dollar of a jobless check translates into $1.60 or $1.90 of economic activity. You know, that's -- the tax cuts, especially for the rich, the concern from some economists that those are less stimulative because those can be sucked away and they can be saved not necessarily used in the economy. So, no question that about half of this -- the budget experts say about half of this is seen as stimulative.
ROBERTS: We may find out later on today whether this whole thing is going to go through or not.
ROMANS: Yes.
ROBERTS: Christine, thanks.
ROBERTS: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is sounding off at the economy. It's sounding a lot like a presidential candidate as well. Bloomberg called a news conference yesterday blasting the federal government for failing the American people. He says too many Americans are suffering while politicians in Washington are posturing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL B. BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: What is clear, though, is that the country is growing more and more frustrated with government's inability to keep America prosperous and fair and more skeptical of the jobs we need are coming soon. As families struggle to get by, they have seen little but partisan gridlock, political pandering and legislative influence peddling, finger pointing, blame games and analyst attacks. Put simply, when it comes to creating jobs, government hasn't gotten the job done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Bloomberg outlined his own strategy for turning around the economy. He wants to cut business taxes to prevent companies from moving overseas. And he says we have to open our borders to more trade. A lot of people say that as maybe an indication that he may be throwing his hat in the ring.
CHETRY: Absolutely. All right. Well, if you cross them, prepared to be hacked. WikiLeaks supporters call it "operation payback." It's a network of so-called hacktivists launching a series of online attacks. Reports overnight say the Swedish government's Web site is the latest to get hit. Sites belonging to Sarah Palin, as well as Visa and Mastercard also shut down. Just last week, Palin said WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange had blood on his hands. Yesterday, Sarapac.com got shut down, knocked offline several times. It's the same thing that happened to Visa and Mastercard after both companies announced that they would no longer process payments to WikiLeaks.
So Palin, Visa and Mastercard not the only targets. At 6:30 Eastern, coming up in about 20 minutes here, Atika Shubert joins us live from London for more on the cyber war being launched by supporters of WikiLeaks and its jailed founder, Julian Assange.
ROBERTS: Well, a cruise ship is limping back to shore this morning after a high-seas nightmare. The ship filled with American passengers was en route to Argentina from the Antarctic when it was slammed by a monster wave. And take a look at the waves that it's in now. This isn't the way that smashed it. This is just the way that's it's negotiating now. Monster waves shattered windows, short-circuited electrical systems, damaged one of the ship's engine. None of the 88 American passengers were injured. The ship expected to arrive back in Argentina early tomorrow. There is no shuffle board on the leader deck in these waters.
CHETRY: No way. That just looks bad.
Well, police in Beverly Hills say the fatal shooting of publicist Ronni Chasen was a, quote, "robbery gone bad" and they say they now have proof of who killed her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF DAVID SNOWDEN, BEVERLY HILLS POLICE DEPT.: This morning, the crime lab at the L.A. (INAUDIBLE) section notified us that they have a preliminary ballistics result. The weapon used by our person of interest, Harold Martin Smith, to commit suicide does preliminarily match the evidence from the Chasen homicide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So police also have a theory now. They say that Smith was riding his bicycle when he tried to carjack Chasen before shooting her several times. They also say it appears he acted alone.
ROBERTS: The flight was brief but it was historic. The first commercial spacecraft to orbit the earth returned safely yesterday, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral carrying the Dragon space capsule. The company CEO says if tests continue to go well, SpaceX could begin flying cargo to the International Space Station by next year.
CHETRY: Pretty cool.
Meanwhile, it's nine minutes past the hour right now. Time to get a check of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center. (INAUDIBLE) snow this time of year getting snowed.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, not only here but across the pond. You know, we've been showing this video of upstate New York all week long. Let's show you some video of Paris. At least some i- Report stuff. Some still shots coming in. They've got about four inches of snow yesterday. That pretty much will shut down the city. It turned to slush, but they're just not equipped to handle it.
Charles de Gaulle Airport was shut down for about an hour or so. And city buses and trains had a tough time getting through there. Scotland also getting hammered with winter weather and some roads there shut down. Even the pirate having a hard time there.
All right. In Florida, where the scare has been the cold temperatures the past couple of days. These are the record lows that were set yesterday -- 31 in Orlando, 31 in Melbourne and 32 degrees in Vero Beach, 39 in the Naples. Twenty-three, meanwhile, in Gainsville.
Now most of the citrus crops have done OK, but some of the vegetable crops have been damaged because of temperatures that have dipped down into the 20s. Today it's a little bit more mild, in the 40s and 50s to start the day. Thirty-two degrees in Jacksonville, and 25 a little bit farther north in Tallahassee. Twenty-two couple of surge across parts of Alabama and Georgia, but no big scare. We might have a bigger scare come the weekend. And still, lake-effect snow showers continue to rumble off Lake Erie and Ontario. In fact, lake-effect snow warnings in effect another three or four hours, until about 10:00, and then we'll wind down this event until the next one recharges the batteries over the weekend.
John, Kiran, back up to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob, thanks so much. We'll see you again soon for the travel forecast.
Ahead, 40 years later, justice for Jim Morrison? The late lead singer for "The Doors" may finally be off the hook for the whipout that was heard around the world.
CHETRY: And standing up to bullies, not fighting and not hiding. How kids are getting the skills they need to survive and even thrive in what could sometimes be a cruel world.
ROBERTS: And give me a home where the buffalo roam. Or Mark (ph), give me a car where the buffalo can ride. Meet the guy who took that literally. A man and his pet buffalo, coming your way in your "Morning Talkers" only, only in Edmonton, Alberta.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Fourteen minutes now after the hour. A 21-year-old construction worker from Baltimore is in custody this morning for allegedly trying to blow up a U.S. military recruiting center with a fake car bomb that was built by the FBI.
CHETRY: The suspect, a U.S. citizen named Antonio Martinez first got the attention of the Feds when he took to his Facebook page claiming that he hated anyone who opposed Allah and that he tried to bring others into his plot to kill military personnel.
Joining us on the phone this morning from Washington with more on the arrest, Peter Brookes, former deputy assistant secretary of defense and now a senior fellow for National Security Affairs at the Heritage Foundation.
Peter, thanks for being with us this morning. This sounds very similar to the bomb plot involving undercover agents busting a man who wanted to blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon. And then there was one in Virginia as well. This homegrown terror, are we seeing more of it?
PETER BROOKES, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (via telephone): Well, certainly in the last couple of months. That's three to four plots in the last few months, October, November and December. We've seen this before. This isn't the first time. I mean, there was an attempt to blow up a skyscraper in Dallas a while back by homegrown terrorists. There some things in Northern Virginia and Illinois and North Carolina.
I mean, there's reason to be concerned.
I mean, the good news here is that we were able to penetrate this operation and prevent it. It was totally controlled by the - by the FBI. But my view is the trend line is - is not good.
ROBERTS: And, you know, Peter, obviously, a threat against the military recruiting center is something that has to be taken extremely seriously because we've seen lone wolf gunman attacks on a couple of those centers in the past. This -
BROOKES: Yes. (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTS: This idea, though, that the FBI finds these people online and then gets in their circle of influence, I guess, and - and kind of leads them along. It's been very successful up until now, but, you know, they've only got to get lucky once, right?
BROOKES: Absolutely - absolutely right. I mean, I'm not a lawyer and I'm not a law enforcement person, but, thankfully, they were able to do this. And this came partially because of an informant. I'm not sure that the FBI was on to this individual initially, but I think they were informed that he was talking about on Facebook his desire to take acts against the - the U.S. military.
He's a convert to Islam, by the way. And, in some cases, folks have looked at this closely, see that some of these people who do convert to Islam really want to prove their worth to their - to their new religion.
So somebody saw him online talking about doing harm to U.S. government employees and let the FBI know about this. So that's - that's critically important.
And, obviously, like I said, we cannot become complacent about this threat because it is - it is here.
CHETRY: Yes, and that's the other thing that is just so startling when you talk about homegrown terror. I mean, this is a - a young man that, you know, went to school in Prince George County, a - a well- known suburb outside of Washington, D.C., and, you know, didn't really raise any alarms until these Facebook postings and the conversion. How do you tackle this? In this case again, it appears that they got lucky.
BROOKES: Yes. I mean, eternal vigilance. You know, you have to - the FBI has to be out there recruiting informants, people who are watching this, to have to do their own work. He - it's hard - we don't know now that he was involved with any terror group overseas and he may be himself radicalized, which is what it - what it appears.
Another thing that's interesting to me, Kiran, is the fact that he seemed to be highly inspired not by Osama bin Laden, by - by Anwar al- Awlaki. He's this extremist imam who is in Yemen, a U.S. citizen, raised in the United States, who left here in the early 2000s to return there. He's been the inspiration behind the Fort Hood attacks last fall and also the Detroit air - air bombing, or attempted air bombing, last Christmas.
So interesting to see that it's not Osama bin Laden but it's this new cleric - well, not new cleric, but the new inspiration for this - for this al Qaeda movement.
CHETRY: Right.
BROOKES: And - that I think that's also something we have to - it shows the key centrality, or the centrality of this - this imam in the war on terror. CHETRY: Who's also an American, and is -
BROOKES: Yes.
CHETRY: -- you know, wanted internationally.
BROOKES: Right.
ROBERTS: And the guy who effectively uses the Internet as well to - to influence people.
Peter Brookes this morning for us. Peter, thanks so much. Good to talk to you.
BROOKES: Thanks for having me.
ROBERTS: WikiLeaks activists launching an online attack, reportedly hacking the Swedish government's website, along with Sarah Palin's Visas and MasterCards as well. It's getting ugly out there, and it's getting potentially dangerous. A live report from London, just ahead.
CHETRY: And that's a good buffalo. One of the strangest and largest family pets you'll ever see. How the heck that car can actually move with a buffalo inside is another mystery.
Eighteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-one minutes past the hour. "Morning Talkers" time.
Santa Claus fired. Not the one at the North Pole, the one that goes to department stores to help out the real Santa. San Francisco Santa John, Macy's Department Store sacked him after more than 20 years because of a joke that he told, which he says he's been telling. He told this to an adult couple sitting on his lap and it was taken the wrong way. He said - well, here. Listen to it yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN TOOMEY, VETERAN SANTA AT ONE OF MACY'S SAN FRANCISCO STORES: I said, you know why Santa's so happy and jolly all the time. And they said, no. And I said, well, that's because Santa knows where all the naughty girls and boys live.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: I know, but he's been doing it for 20 years. They fire him now? You thought it was bad? He didn't say it to little kids. He said it to - to a couple.
ROBERTS: Only to adults? Oh -
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: -- he never said it to little kids. CHETRY: He didn't say it to little kids. He said it to this couple -
ROBERTS: Oh.
CHETRY: -- that was sitting. And why are you sitting -
ROBERTS: That's a little different.
CHETRY: -- on Santa's lap anyway? I mean, come on, people.
ROBERTS: Did you see "Glee" this past week?
CHETRY: No. I cannot.
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE).
They're giving it away, 60 more billionaires are making the pledge to donate most of their fortunes to charity, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He recently donated $100 million to the public school system in Newark, New Jersey. The list now includes more than 50 billionaires like George Lucas and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
CHETRY: Wow.
Well, a snow cone so big that you can ski down it. How about this for a sugar rush? It's called - it's a place called Bahama Buck's at Lubbock, Texas and they wanted to crush the Guinness Book of World Records. There's a lot of Guinness Book of World Record breaking attempts this time of year for some reason.
But anyway, the cone is now of course the biggest cone in history - 2.1 tons, 11 feet tall and 26 feet all the way around. They're using 14,000 pounds of birthday cake-flavored syrup. Yikes. Sixty thousand times bigger than a regular Bahama Buck's snow cone.
ROBERTS: Wow. Quite an effort there.
It can be a real hassle trying to travel with the - the family pet, especially if the family pet is a 1,600-pound buffalo. Meet Bailey, his owner from Edmonton, Alberta drives him around town in an old Pontiac with the roof cut off. Bailey just hops in and goes. A little dog in there as well.
One day he hopes to take him on the stampede circuit. And you might want to know, can Bailey do tricks?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM SAUNTER, OWNER OF PET BUFFALO "BAILEY": Come on, lay down. Lay down. Lay down. Lay down to daddy (ph). Lay down. Oh, goodness. You take up so much room. OK. That's a good baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: I thought Ralphie - the University of Colorado Boulder's mascot was tame. Look at Bailey go here. He - apparently, he was bottle-fed -
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: -- so that's why he's such a gentle beast.
CHETRY: I love how he's eating on the hood of the car as they're driving. Where did they have to go, by the way, with the buffalo?
ROBERTS: Little - little snack and go, you know?
CHETRY: What, they're going to CBS?
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) with the kids.
CHETRY: Well, still to come this morning, 40 years later, justice for Jim Morrison? The late lead singer of The Doors may be finally off the hook.
ROBERTS: And it's all-out war online. WikiLeaks supporters crashing websites, hacking the Swedish government, Sarah Palin and two big credit card companies. So where is all of this heading? We're live in London with the very latest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Jim Morrison may finally be off the hook. Forty years after the late lead singer of The Doors was convicted of exposing himself at a concert in Miami, it looks like the state is willing to grant him a pardon.
ROBERTS: Yes. It all became a media circus that helped define the 1960s. Rock 'n' roll Freedom Man versus The Man. Susan Candiotti joins us now. So pardon for the Lizard King. Can you imagine?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It looks like it's going to happen. I mean, what a string of hits "Light My Fire," "Riders on the Storm", "Lover Madly"? I mean, you can go on and on.
ROBERTS: But my favorite is "The End."
CANDIOTTI: I don't know that one.
ROBERTS: Oh, yes.
CHETRY: This is the end -
CANDIOTTI: Oh, that one. Thank you very much. See.
ROBERTS: They used it in "Apocalypse Now." It's very effective.
CANDIOTTI: I'll make you sing a few notes.
CHETRY: I'm a horrible singer, but I was just trying to help you.
CANDIOTTI: I tell you, we started reminiscing about this, you start singing when you put these stories together, you know, you can't help it.
But, you know, when Jim Morrison was busted in Miami for using profane language and supposedly exposing himself on stage, it even sparked a public decency rally at the Orange Bowl. It seems almost quaint by today's standards.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM MORRISON, LEAD SINGER, "THE DOORS": (SINGING "BREAK ON THROUGH").
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Rock 'n' roll legend Jim Morrison nicknamed "The Lizard King." Would he want a pardon for his controversial 1969 performance in Miami?
PATRICIA MORRISON, JIM MORRISON'S WIDOW: I think he would reject this completely out of hand. He would just say no - no thanks. I, you know, can't be bothered. Just a -
CANDIOTTI: Morrison's widow, writer/novelist, Patricia Kennealy- Morrison, was in court and says the whole thing is ridiculous.
P. MORRISON: I just think it's - it's a complete travesty of justice.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): What did he think of the charges?
P. MORRISON: He thought it was basically a political setup and I think he was absolutely quite right to think so.
CANDIOTTI: A political setup by whom?
P. MORRISON: Oh, yes. By the establishment, trying to get at the counterculture.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): During the trial, the sultry rock star talked about his performance?
J. MORRISON: Well, in the realm of art and theater, I do think that there should be complete freedom for the artist and performer.
CANDIOTTI: Despite a conviction, it remains unclear whether he exposed himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jim, do you have anything to say?
P. MORRISON: Despite the fact that there were 10,000 people in the hall that night. Funny thing, no one has a picture of the actual exposure of Lizard King's lizard.
CANDIOTTI: No stranger to controversy, on "The Ed Sullivan Show", The Doors famously refused to change their lyrics from -
J. MORRISON: (SINGING "LIGHT MY FIRE"). "Girl, we couldn't get much higher."
CANDIOTTI: -- "to get much better".
Outgoing Florida governor Charlie Crist is spearheading the pardon.
GOV. CHARLIE CRIST (R), FLORIDA: It's never a bad idea to try to right a wrong.
CANDIOTTI: Patricia Morrison wrote to Crist.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): You didn't mince words in this e-mail.
P. MORRISON: I seldom do.
CANDIOTTI: If I can -
P. MORRISON: What's the point?
CANDIOTTI: -- read some quotes.
P. MORRISON: Please.
CANDIOTTI: You said, "He would hate, loathe, detest and despise the whole idea. No doubt he would have ripped the pardon into tiny pieces. He did nothing to be pardoned for. Nothing."
P. MORRISON: Quite right. If the conviction could be expunged I would be happier about.
CRIST: I'm sympathetic and understand, I believe what she is trying to communicate. What I do know is that if someone hasn't committed a crime, that should be recognized.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: As one of his final acts as Florida governor, Charlie Crist will vote on Morrison's pardon. It is expected to pass. Patricia Morrison, by the way, who lives in New York and writes rock n' roll murder mystery says she avoids listening to The Doors because it's too painful to hear Jim's voice. He died of a heart attack in Paris while the case was on appeal and he was only 27 years old, like some other famous artists, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, also died at the age of --
ROBERTS: You know, you wonder, though, if there was never any evidence of a crime being committed why he didn't expunge a conviction as opposed to a pardon.
CANDIOTTI: The times were different, as everyone --
CHETRY: Is Charlie Crist leaving the door open for that?
CANDIOTTI: Pardon me?
CHETRY: Is Charlie Crist leaving the door open for expungement or for calling for that?
CANDIOTTI: There's been no talk of that. I -- they seem to be, you know, I guess because it was on appeal at the time and they can't really expunge the record, go back -- I don't know, but this seems to be it.
ROBERTS: Something complicated.
CANDIOTTI: Yes.
ROBERTS: Well, it's good to know at least for some people.
CANDIOTTI: Exactly. Yes, she's not happy about it as well.
ROBERTS: Yes. All right. Susan Candiotti this morning -- thanks.
Crossing the half hour, it's time for this morning's top stories.
A warning from senior White House economic adviser Larry Summers to Democrats -- Summers said there is a risk of a double-dip recession if the tax cut bill is not approved. That is despite a message for months from the White House that such a possibility was not likely.
CHETRY: Another sting may have stopped another domestic terror attack. A 21-year-old construction worker from Baltimore is in custody this morning. He's accused of conspiring to blow up a U.S. military recruitment center with a fake bomb built by the FBI.
ROBERTS: And Senate Democrats postponing a vote last night to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," the ban on openly gay soldiers serving in the military. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unable to secure enough support from Republicans to overcome a filibuster. The two sides continuing to negotiate the measure. It's not clear this morning when the Senate might open the debate for a vote.
CHETRY: Well, if you cross them, you will crash.
ROBERTS: Yes. Supporters of the Web site WikiLeaks launching a sweeping cyber war this week, reportedly hacking the Swedish government's Web site overnight, one day after taking the Web sites that belong to Sarah Palin, Visa and MasterCard.
CHETRY: Atika Shubert joins us live from London this morning with more on all of this.
We heard about it early yesterday that some of these sites were indeed crashing, and at the hands of people who said it was payback.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's being called "operation: payback" or also "operation: avenge Assange." And that's basically a loose affiliation of hackers that call themselves "anonymous." And these are hackers that all around the world, and basically, they've gotten together.
They attacked other targets like the Church of Scientology before. But this time, they're turning attention to what they consider to be the enemies of WikiLeaks -- Visa, MasterCard are the big hits they've had so far.
They've also put Sarah Palin on their target list and Senator Joseph Lieberman. And also now, PayPal is also being targeted. Visa, MasterCard and PayPal, they all froze the accounts that WikiLeaks had, effectively cutting off the funding to WikiLeaks. And, of course, the political attacks by Sarah Palin and Senator Joseph Lieberman are the reason why they're attacking those two Web sites. The Swedish government has also apparently come under attack.
So, it's really anybody they see as an enemy of WikiLeaks. And we don't know how long this is going to go on for. Basically, Anonymous, the group, has been putting out Twitter postings saying that they'll continue these attacks until they feel their message has been heard.
ROBERTS: So far, Atika, this has only been denial of service attacks. But are any threats from this group, Anonymous, to go deeper?
SHUBERT: Well, yes, so far, it's just really been the inconvenience of these Web sites going down. So, it's not really been that damaging.
The question is: are they going to be able to cause damage to, for example, Visa and MasterCard's payment system? There's some suggestion of that, a list of numbers were posted up. They were not, as it turned out, MasterCard numbers.
But again, it's that suggestion that they could do more damage if they're somehow able to access actual MasterCard numbers, credit card numbers, or able to disrupt the payment system in some way.
ROBERTS: Wow, a real cyber war erupting over all of this. Atika Shubert for us this morning from London -- Atika, thanks.
CHETRY: A lot of people wondering just how far WikiLeaks activists are willing to go and if they might be dangerous. At 8:10 Eastern, we're going to talk with Noah Shachtman. He's a contributing editor with "Wired" magazine and writes a national security blog called "Danger Room."
ROBERTS: Coming up: Sticker shock at the gas pump. What's driving the price of gasoline up and is there an end in sight?
It's 35 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Thirty-seven minutes after the hour.
As 2010 draws to a close, America has a serious case of gold fever. You might even say it's the Tea Party of investments.
What other investments can be golden in the year ahead? We've got some for you. "Fortune" magazine is out with its top 10 stock picks for 2011.
Leigh Gallagher, the senior editor at "Fortune" magazine joins us now.
Good morning. It's great to see you.
LEIGH GALLAGHER, SENIOR EDITOR, FORTUNE MAGAZINE: Good morning, John. Great to be here.
ROBERTS: So, let's talk first of all about this run-up in gold. And, you know, gold fever has sort of gripped the nation. Prices are at all-time highs. It's always been considered to be a safe haven.
Is it a good time to invest? Is it a good deal? Have we missed the boat?
GALLAGHER: Well, this is the same thing with manias. And we think gold is really in a mania right now. It doesn't matter. People don't think rationally.
Gold is now at $1,400 an ounce. It's hard to believe back when it was $800 an ounce a few years ago, we thought it was huge then and now, it's only been pushed higher and higher and higher. And so, people -- but yet, people are pouring into it.
And as you say, there is this mania out there and people are going to conferences. People are becoming gold prospectors. There's just a lot of people that are really getting into this.
ROBERTS: Modern day gold rush.
GALLAGHER: Exactly.
ROBERTS: I remember -- I remember a guy at a little station I worked at in Toronto back in the 1980s, saying, "Buy gold, it's going to $700." This is when it was like 200 bucks. And we're saying, you're nuts.
(CROSSTALK)
GALLAGHER: Where is he now? He's probably, you know, got a mansion somewhere.
ROBERTS: I don't know I don't know if he actually invested or he just told people to. Let's take a look at your top 10 stock picks of 2011.
GALLAGHER: Sure.
ROBERTS: And we've got three of them that are pretty interesting. The first one is one that you might not imagine: Lennar, which is the country's biggest homebuilder here. And there are reasons why you say Lennar would be a good investment.
GALLAGHER: Yes, this is really interesting. I mean, one of the themes we're focusing on in the stories that there are just great bargains out there, even in growth stocks. And the thing with Lennar is if you look at the big picture with housing -- for decades, up until 2008, from 1950s until 2008, there were -- the new homes were 1 million to 1.5 million a year. In the past two years, that's dropped to 500,000.
And that's not reflecting the number of households that keep coming on to the market every year. So, that's bound to equalize a little bit. ROBERTS: Well, let's go to our graphic here that we had up just a second ago. You say that there will be 1.2 million new households per year coming into the market through 2015.
GALLAGHER: Yes.
ROBERTS: They're going to need some place to live.
GALLAGHER: Exactly.
ROBERTS: And that demand could soon outstrip supply. The closed Wednesday for Lennar stock was $17.55. What do you think it can go up to in the next year?
GALLAGHER: We think it's got significant upside. I mean, it could -- I mean, but the thing about Lennar is that it's not necessarily a next year stock. This is -- you got to be a little patient with this one --
ROBERTS: This could be a decade from now?
GALLAGHER: -- because it is going to take a bill for the household formation to match the number of homes built.
ROBERTS: OK. Well, let's look at a stock that could go up in the next year. You call this a swing for the fences stocks as well. We've heard of Apple Computer. It's at $320 right now.
GALLAGHER: Yes. That's top, too, on our list.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: If only you had it about 10 years ago when it was 7 bucks. Oh, my goodness. This is Entropic?
GALLAGHER: Entropic, yes.
ROBERTS: Entropic, OK. This is a semi-conductor company that makes semi-conductors that are used in multi-room DVRs. You're expecting 40 percent earnings growth next year because Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications all planning on adopting this technology for their DVR, their multi-room DVR service.
GALLAGHER: Exactly. They make the technology that goes into that capability and this is what everybody is talking about in television, it's just -- you know, the capability to have one, you know, have your DVR available in multiple rooms. And also, they think that this technology might someday go into other appliances like your stereo, games. So, this is a technology with huge potentials.
ROBERTS: Toaster ovens.
GALLAGHER: You never know.
ROBERTS: It's at $10.81. It was 9 bucks the other day. So, it's on the way up. GALLAGHER: Yes. It is. We think it's got a significant upside, 40 percent, 50 percent for here. So --
ROBERTS: You call it a swing to the fences stock. What is that?
GALLAGHER: The thing with this stock is that this is the kind of stock that traditionally you would have to overpay for. You know, this is a fast-growing company and this is the kind of thing that years ago you would have to just pay a huge premium for. But the price earnings multiple, which is how you, you know, assess the stock's value is really low.
ROBERTS: Got you. What do you think it could go to?
GALLAGHER: We think it could go to -- I mean, the upside is --
ROBERTS: Well, Apple was 7 bucks 10 years ago. So, there you go.
GALLAGHER: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Swing for the fences, I thought maybe that was either you hit a home run or you fail miserably.
GALLAGHER: Exactly.
ROBERTS: There's a potential downside, too?
GALLAGHER: No, I mean, this is actually guaranteed.
ROBERTS: It's all upside?
GALLAGHER: I mean, not guaranteed, but the future for the stock is incredibly bright. We just see minimal downside here. So, there's really, it's hard to leave out (ph).
ROBERTS: So, OK, so, you thought Lennar was surprising. Home building, why would you invest in home building? Why about investing in oil drilling?
Transocean, we all remember Transocean. They own the rig that went down in the Gulf of Mexico, tragically taking 11 lives with it. But oil prices are up 17 percent since May and they are likely not facing any liability from the Gulf oil spill. Their stock closed Wednesday at $71.03.
And you say because of demand from the BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China, that it could go way up.
GALLAGHER: Yes. I mean, the trend in oil prices is up as we -- as we said and as we all know. People don't think about that because we're still on a slow growth mode here. But the rest of the world is on -- you know, China and India is going to feel huge demand.
And another big thing with Transocean, you know, a lot of people thought it might face liability with the BP spill. But it's abundantly clear that it really is not going to. That all of the liability is going to be on BP's shoulders. So, this is a -- and deep-water drilling, I mean, despite what happened, this is really --
ROBERTS: They go deeper and deeper and deeper.
GALLAGHER: And it's going to continue to happen. And so --
ROBERTS: Oil, 89 bucks a barrel right now. What do you think it's going to?
GALLAGHER: Well, we see -- I mean, triple digit again because based on demand coming up. I mean, not tomorrow, but it's certainly headed in that direction.
ROBERTS: Yes. So, gas, $3 a gallon may soon be a fond memory.
GALLAGHER: We're close to that already and it's hard to believe, but oil was in 2008, it was $120 and higher. So, you know, we may be headed in that direction again. And a lot of that is the role of financial speculators that they plan the matting as well. But, you know, certainly right around the holidays, it would be a hard time for us to look at thinking about raising gas prices. But it might happen.
ROBERTS: Glad I just bought a hybrid.
GALLAGHER: There you go.
ROBERTS: Leigh Gallagher, great to see you this morning. Thanks for coming in.
GALLAGHER: Thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Thanks.
Well, still to come this morning, Rob is going to be along with the morning's travel forecast right after the break. Many parts of the country saw an enormous amount of snow again overtime.
Meantime, we're also going to be focusing on empowering our kids. Children with special needs, special social needs in particular, can be easy prey for bullies, but they don't have to be. Coming up: we're going to meet two teachers making a difference, and how they help kids take a stand and take the target off their backs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It is a beautiful day if you like the cold weather, 24 degrees right now in New York City this morning. Going up to a high of just freezing, at 47 minutes past the hour. Hey, it's winter, we're used to it.
ROBERTS: I'm not yet tuned into the cold, though. I was walked around New York yesterday thinking hey, it's not too cold out. And I almost slipped on some ice.
(LAUGHTER) ROBERTS: Just not quite coordinated with all of this just yet. Let's get a quick check of the morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano in the Extreme Weather Center for us. How cold is it going to be and how long will it be cold?
MARCIANO: Well, we're starting to see a little bit of moderating. Meaning, it's going to start to warm up here in the next couple of days before the next shot of cold air comes in. And that one maybe colder than this one. Record lows last night across parts of Florida or yesterday morning, 31 in Orlando, Melbourne, 32 degrees in Vero Beach, and 37 in west palm. Much colder you get towards Gainesville and parts of the Florida panhandle where temperatures this morning are below freezing.
But down across the south and mid-section of Florida, a little bit warmer this morning. That's good news. There was no widespread damage, at least, on the citrus crops. Some of the vegetable crops reporting sporadic damage in spots. This one, I think we did OK. But again, the one that's coming through Monday and Tuesday of next week may be even colder. So, we're not out of the woods, for sure. Twenty-three right now in Atlanta, 15 degrees in Nashville. So, everybody's still feeling that nip in the air for the past couple of days.
Temperatures haven't warmed up too much. I think today in the afternoon, you'll feel just a little bit better, but 7 right now in Chicago. With the wind, it feels like it's zero. So, that's certainly on the chilly side and little bit not so bad across parts of New York, 25 degrees there. There you go. Still, some lake-effect snow showers, and the machine just doesn't want to quit. Let's show you some shots of Syracuse, New York, where yesterday, they a had record snow of over a foot.
And that's on top. They've seen all weekend long about 40 inches in total. So, yes, cars are buried. The snow blowers are out. And it's a never-ending battle it seems, and the snow is at least in Cleveland seem not one end (ph). We still have some snow bands that are coming off of Lake Erie here, Ontario as well to the north, but these are beginning to wind down just a little bit.
Here are some of the other totals. Almost 40 inches in Burton, Ohio. If only they had a place where you can ride your Burton board. Here's the next system. Again, that could have even colder air than this one. So, don't get the bikini out just yet, guys. John, Kiran, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Forty inches of snow. That's amazing.
MARCIANO: Yes.
CHETRY: No way the bikinis are put away. Unless, you're, you know, getting a Caribbean vacation surprise sometime in the winter, you know?
MARCIANO: That sounds nice.
ROBERTS: Speaking of that --
CHETRY: Oh, yes.
ROBERTS: Cruise ships?
CHETRY: Well. This is a Caribbean surprise -- this isn't even the Caribbean, but this is a surprise you certainly would not welcome if you were on vaca.
ROBERTS: How'd you like to be in a cabin on that cruise ship?
CHETRY: Awful. This is a cruise ship that was just getting tossed around like a toy boat. Amazing video. We're going to show you where it is right now. It's slowly making its way back to dry land.
ROBERTS: Yes. It's just north of St. Lucia, I think. No, (INAUDIBLE) there.
Also, checking the naughty list. We're going to talk to the reverend who is calling businesses for having a PC Christmas on grinchalert.com. Don't say happy holidays.
CHETRY: And meet the buffalo whisperer. A man and his pet bison (ph), and they like to cruise around in there -- I guess, you could call it a sawed-off Pontiac because they had to cut the roof off so it could fit in there. Oh, don't forget the little dog, too. Those stories and much more at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Six minutes before the top of the hour. This morning, we're talking about how you combat bullying. It's a question that a lot of parents and schools, teachers are grappling with. In the first part of our series, "Empowering Our Kids," we take a look at a program that was started by two teachers who noticed that the kids getting bullied often lack the social skills to know how to deal with it. So, they're trying to give those kids the tools they need to stand up for themselves. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, everybody. How was your week at school?
CHETRY (voice-over): A simple question, but in this Mamaroneck, New York class, some troubling answers.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: As being bumped by this kid.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A boy?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. And what is he saying to you?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: He's saying like swear words at me, and he tried to punch me in the face. CHETRY: So, he's here to get some help. Eleven-year-olds Michael Cohen and Colin Horton are no strangers to bullying.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: We get picked on so many times.
MICHAEL COHEN, 6TH GRADE STUDENT: We've been bullied and most of all name-calling.
CHETRY: Does this happen in the classroom?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: It usually happens at recess.
CHETRY: And they have something else in common. A diagnosis of high- functioning autism. Their mothers say it makes them targets.
What as parents, as mothers, goes through your head when you have to deal with this?
EILEEN COHEN, MICHAEL'S MOM: You just want to run and protect them or run to the school and scream at someone.
SUSAN HANDLER, CO-FOUNDER, SOCIABLE KIDZ: OK. Let's practice again, one, two, three.
A lot of children who are on the spectrum just tend to take it, you know, or they'll fight back, but physically fight back. They just don't have the right skills or techniques. They don't know what to do.
CHETRY: Teachers Susan Handler and Monica Weber started the company, Sociable Kidz, to give these students the tools they need to face bullies in school.
HANDLER: What we're going to do now is we're going to practice using our "I" statements like I am upset with you. I don't like what you're doing.
CHETRY: What are some other coping mechanisms that you give the kids here to deal with if they're being picked on a school?
HANDLER: We have mirrors. So, we look in front of the mirror because, sometimes, when you're talking to somebody, you don't know what you look like. And so, they practice that over and over.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: I don't really like what you did, so I want you to stop.
HANDLER: Excellent.
CHETRY: They also practice through role playing.
HANDLER: I want to you stop.
MONICA WEBER, CO-FOUNDER, SOCIABLE KIDZ: It's a very safe environment. And they know, OK, I'm not going through this. I'm not the only one that's experiencing this. CHETRY: Colin and Michael's moms say the classes are making a difference.
JESSICA HORTON, COLIN'S MOM: They're helping him believe in himself and not believe all of the bad things.
EILEEN COHEN: It's really helped Michael to stop and think before he reacts.
CHETRY: Michael says he's already tried out his "I" statements at school.
MICHAEL COHEN: I said, I don't like what you're saying. So if you -- so if you hate me a lot, why don't you leave me alone then?
CHETRY: Did it work?
MICHAEL COHEN: A little.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: A little bit.
CHETRY: Yes. And the progress is slow. I mean, you know, it doesn't changeover night. It doesn't change the bullies overnight. But the mothers of the boys that we talked to say they're thrilled. The reason they're thrilled is because they say the kids are already putting some of the skills to work. But even more, they found this friendship, this group of kids that they can, you know, get positive affirmations from, and it makes the bullying, even though, it doesn't totally go away, it makes it easier to deal with.
ROBERTS: It can be such a deeply hurtful thing to kids. Is there any evidence that kids with autism spectrum syndrome are more likely, more prone, to be bullied than other kids?
CHETRY: I know that they're doing studies on it right now, but anecdotally, when you talk to mothers and fathers of these kids, I think there is a recent survey of mothers that said that 94 percent of the kids who are on the autism spectrum, their mothers and fathers reported that they were bullied in school. They're actually going to be doing a study.
Autism Speaks is paying for a study right now to find out whether or not, you know, they really want to get this empirical evidence that kids who are on the autism spectrum are more likely to be bullied. But everybody whose trying to help these kids says it does happen more.
ROBERTS: Wow. You know, anything they can do to help out these kids, I'm sure, it's going to be welcome for kids and their parents.
CHETRY: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Good story.
CHETRY: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Top stories coming your way right after the break. Stay with us.
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